Family of 4 Dead in House Blaze in Possible Murder-Suicide

It's difficult to believe, but yet another possible family murder-suicide may have taken place this week. Unlike the one in Texas in which two children survived being shot by their father -- an entire family of four, including two teens, is dead this morning in Florida. A serious fire ripped through a five-bedroom mansion owned by former tennis pro James Blake, which he had rented to Darrin Campbell, his wife, Kimberly, and their children, 19-year-old Colin and 16-year-old Megan. When cops and firefighters arrived on the scene after receiving a phone call from a neighbor, they found something truly unusual: fireworks had been placed throughout the house and accelerants had been added to make the fire spread rapidly.

Advertisement

Authorities have confirmed that the fire was set intentionally and that they are not searching for a suspect in this case. Though only the results of autopsies will determine whether the family members were killed by the fire or another cause, cops have shared that two of the victims suffered from "upper body trauma" and that the fireworks were found spread around the house. The two teens were in their bedrooms at the time of the explosion, and the adults we presume to be their parents were in their room.

How horrific. These family murder-suicides, which seem to be on the rise lately, never make sense -- after all, the majority of parents would take a bullet to keep their children safe. And assuming the Campbell family committed arson and murder-suicide, what we know about their universe makes this possibility really difficult to comprehend.

For starters, Darrin was a successful businessman who was once the senior vice president at two companies, PODS and an insurance firm. He served as treasurer at his kids' elite private school. Neighbors describe Kimberly as "sophisticated and classy." And the teens sound like they had the world at their fingertips. Colin was a star player on his school's baseball team and Megan was a pretty freshman with friends who describe her as an "angel."

What went wrong in their world? We'll never know the exact reason why this happened, and of course even the happiest of families have issues that remain locked behind closed doors, but suicide is never, ever the answer.

Why do you think we're hearing about so many more family murder-suicides lately?

Please call 1-800-273-8255 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in case you are worried about yourself or someone else.